From Abracadabra to Zombies
wizard
In a nutshell: A wizard is a person in stories who has supernatural powers. There are good and bad wizards. Sometimes they battle it out in the story. Usually, the good wizard beats the bad wizard, but not always. The most popular wizard in recent times has been Harry Potter.
A wizard is, literally, a wise person (from the 15th century Middle English wysard).
A wizard is a person in a story who has supernatural knowledge and power. Wizards can make things happen just by willing it or saying some magic words (an incantation). Their magical powers extend to many areas. They might be able to fly or be in two places at once. They might be able to turn an enemy into a statue of salt. They might be able to cure the sick, heal the lame, or bring the dead back to life. Some can control the weather or make things burst into flames just by willing it.
Being able to make things happen just by wishing for them seems like a fantasy everyone has. Maybe that's why stories with wizards in them are so popular. When good wizards fight bad wizards, the stories get most exciting. Bad wizards are sometimes called sorcerers.
Books by J. K. Rowling about the teenage wizard Harry Potter's adventures have sold more than 450,000,000 copies and have been translated into 67 languages. That's one popular wizard! 450,000,000 copies of Harry Potter books piled on top of each other would rise almost three times higher than Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth at 29,000 feet high. (That's assuming each book is 2 inches thick.)
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